Visakhapatnam Steel Plant employees feel foreign, PSUs safe bet

Visakhapatnam : With the last date for filing of Expression of Interest (EoI) for working capital and restoring the four blast furnaces to end in the next two days, employees of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant seem to be favouring the participation of foreign companies rather than Indian companies. So far, 22 bidders filed the bidding. Among them the international bidders are Indo Intertrade AG from Switzerland, Indo International Trading FZCO from Dubai, SB International INC from Dallas and Global Soft Pte Ltd from Singapore.

These apart, the companies belonging to a similar trade across the country, including JSW Steel Limited, Jindal Steel and Power Limited, Tata International Limited and Avon Steel Industries Ltd are some of the big players that formed a part of the 22-bidder list.

Employees of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and trade union representatives opine that the bidding should not be in favour of steel producing majors of the country. Trade union leaders say that involving Indian private players would invite more trouble. "There is a larger scope for them (steel majors in the country) to highlight their brand rather than the VSP's. Another potential danger is that they may divert large number of RINL's clients towards them by offering low rate than the RINL

A majority of VSP employees find the Singareni Collieries Company Limited, SAIL and APMDC much safer as they are government-run companies. V Srinivasa Rao, a trade union leader, told Hans India that they feel that the Andhra Pradesh government should file a bid to save VSP so that the brand image will not be impacted.

He said a team of trade union leaders had urged the Union Minister Faggan Singh Kulaste recently that the Centre should prevent private companies from participating in the bidding.

A VSP official said Ukraine-based companies are also showing interest in investing in the steel plant. Following the war with Russia, Ukraine is looking forward to rebuilding their nation from scratch. "They require quality steel and large quantities. If such countries come forward to invest in VSP, it would be a win-win situation for both the parties," the official said.